Welcome to Avalon
Be Afraid of the Dark…
Drabble Wednesday: Perspectives
The next installment of the Virtual Zombie Penguin Apocalypse.
The Situation
“Oh, I say, they are everywhere. This doesn’t look good chaps.” Doctor Quakenboss studied the monitor with a frown. “We are involved in a full scale zombie penguin invasion. Our resident villain hijacked the remote VR projectors.”
Fluffy scooted across the desk to look. “You’re right. So why is the control room zombie free? And where are Frankie and Joni?”
“Why the control room is not infested, I have no idea, but our Frankie and Join are hiding in a utility closet and those rather mindless zombies can’t find them.”
“Maybe that’s why the zombie penguins want to eat brains.”
Going to Plan?
Le Pingouin Noir rubbed his hands together and laughed. “Success! Soon I will have control of the VR world and my zombie penguins will rule!”
“So why haven’t you taken over the control room?” The Frost Ninja Bear tapped her paw impatiently against her empty scabbard. “Why can’t you find those two bumbling programmers?”
Le Pingouin Noir glared at her. She rolled her eyes.
“I’m working on it. Hacking the heat sensors and camera feeds have proved troublesome and that darned cow triggered some exclusivity zone in the control room when I tried to turn the other cows.”
“Excuses, excuses.”
In the Closet
“Why haven’t they found us?” I shivered, waiting for zombie penguin hordes.
“Don’t know.” Frankie shrugged, shifting his weight. The Ninja Bear’s sword dug into my hip.
“Why do you still have that thing? Wait, how do you have it? There are no remote projectors in the closet.”
“It’s real, not VR.”
“What? A VR character had a real sword?” I was puzzled, then it hit me. “Oh my, he did it! I know how to stop him. Frankie, can you trick the penguins and get us out of here?”
“Already on it. It should be safe to leave now.”
Drabble Wednesday: The Tides Turn
The next episodes of the Virtual Zombie Penguin Apocalypse.
The Betrayal
“You fools! You fell right into my trap. Le Pingouin Noir has triumphed.”
The jammer vibrated, emitting a strange hum and sparks. The lights dimmed and the walls glowed a vibrant green.
“What’s happening? I grabbed Frankie’s arm.
“I don’t know. Wait.” He peered at the junction relay. “Oh no! Someone reversed the polarity! The jammer’s giving access to the VR matrix not disrupting it.” He stared at me. “That means…”
“Yes, we are working with Le Pingouin Noir.”
We turned to see the Frost Ninja Bear and the Thunder Penguin. Behind them, hoards of zombie penguins.
I screamed, “Run!”
The Nature of Evil
“I can’t believe the Weather Warriors turned evil.” Frankie wailed. “Are there no bastions of justice left?”
Huddled in a cramped utility closet, hiding from zombie penguins snapped my patience, and I hissed, “They’re bloody programs! They’re not real! Oswald probably altered their base code, you ninny.”
“I know, but… oh shit, what about the cows?”
I shivered. “Do you think Oswald got to them? If Doctor Quakenboss has turned evil again, we’re doomed.”
“I thought they were just programs?” Frankie smirked.
“Oh shut up. This is serious. We left the pets with the cows, remember?”
“Oh. The poor cows.”
What Happened to the Cows
The lights dimmed; Arabella, Jake, Winston, Fred, and Doctor Quakenboss heard a voice in their heads.
“Join me and rule the world. Join Le Pingouin Noir.”
Four of the cows mooed, their internal code shifting their allegiance, but Doctor Quakenboss growled, “That’s not cricket. Fluffy, old bean, please enact protocol 42.”
With a soft cackle, the guinea pig typed his little paws across a keyboard. Then he hit a small blue console button.
“It’s done. Mwahahaha!”
As the cows regained their free will, Doctor Quakenboss turned to Fluffy, “Should we be worried?”
“Nah, I just always wanted to do that.”
Drabble Wednesday: Holograms and Jams
Another trip to the land of Frankie and Joni today, with three more installments of the Virtual Zombie Apocalypse.
Back To The Crisis
As everyone crowded into the lift, I asked, “Wait, what about the cows?”
“They can come too.” Frankie replied. “ I’ve turned on the complex’s remote VR projectors.”
The door slid shut and when it opened we were back in the control room. We all piled out separating into our own spots.
Frankie frowned. “He’s not here. I thought for sure he’d be here.” He went to the main console and pushed some buttons. “Drat! he locked us out.”
Dr. Quackenboss leaned over Frankie’s shoulder. “Any chance of hacking the thing, old bean?”
A hologram suddenly appeared.
“It’s the Ninja Bear!”
The Only Hope
The image of the pink suited bear crackled. “Help us, Frankie and Joni, you’re our only—” She turned to someone off screen, snarling, “I can’t say it. If these two are our only hope, then we’re doomed.”
An indistinct voice muttered something and she turned back, glaring. “Okay, you idiots are the ones available to help. The Thunder Penguin says you need to go to the L2 relay polarity junction and splice in something called a matrix jammer. Then he’ll take it from there.”
The hologram fritzed and disappeared, as Frankie exclaimed, “Of course! That makes perfect sense.”
“It does?”
Jamming the Matrix
“Of course it does. That will disrupt the entire interior stabilization and trip the isolation circuit.
That last part I understood. “Oh. You’re cutting off his access to the outside VR network.”
“Exactly, come on! I need your help.” He rushed over to a cabinet and pulled out a silver doohickey. “Everyone else can stay here. Dr Quackenboss is in charge.” He turned to the cow. “Moo if Le Pingouin Noir shows up.”
The cow nodded and Frankie and I took off down a side corridor.
Two minutes later we plugged in the jammer.
Then a maniacal laugh rang out.
Writing Updates
Sorry no Drabble Wednesday again. I know I’ve been very bad at being consistent lately, but it’s been a struggle writing lately and sometimes, like this week, I’ve been distracted by my busy schedule. I may have turned a corner writing wise, (see below) though, so maybe I’ll do better for the rest of the year. So today, instead of zombie penguins, I’m giving you some updates on what I’ve been doing.
I’m participating in Camp NaNoWriMo this month, working on my historical fantasy set in 15th century Venice. The words and ideas are flowing nicely for this one and I slipped right back into the rhythm of this book. It felt good to be excited about writing again, instead of just slogging through to get anything written.
I have two sales going on this month.
Past Legends will be 99 cents for the month of July.
You think Camelot was all heroes and wizards? Bollocks. It was nothing but chaos and trouble. And when you’re a legendary immortal witch, that’s a lot of shit to sort out after a few centuries.
I’m having an audiobook sale for Ghosts of the Sea Moon.
Check it out on Chirp
And on Apple
I’m working on some short stories with my Heyward and Andersen series, my Norse gods tale, and my dark fairy tales retelling, but they been moving slowly, so with my historical fantasy flowing I’ll be focusing on that book.
I’m also carving out more reading time doing the summer Challenge over of Facebook in the Indie Fantasy Addicts group. So if you’re following me over on Goodreads or BookBub, you’ll be seeing more book reviews from me.
So that’s all for now, hopefully next week I’ll be back with penguins.
Drabble Wednesday: Meet Le Pingouin Noir
Drabble Wednesday is back and the zombie penguin plot continues…
If you need a refresher as to where we left off, go here:
https://afstewart.ca/2021/06/16/drabble-wednesday-reveals/
Who is Le Pingouin Noir?
“Wait, what? You remember me? I mean, no, I am Le Pingouin Noir.”
I smiled. “No, you’re Oswald Davenport. Founder of FM Cyberspace. You’re legendary.”
“Hah! Lies! No one knows me anymore. But once I infiltrate all virtual reality and unleash my zombie penguin army I’ll never be forgotten again! There will be monster penguins everywhere in VR.”
“Including the Thunder Penguin?” Frankie asked softly.
“Um, well, he was a mistake. I used the Weather Wizards as a coding basis, but… well…” A coughing noise and then, “He is mine now and will lead my Zombie Penguin Apocalypse!”
Frankie smiled.
Fan Club
I blurted, “But you’ll tarnish your legacy.”
“What legacy? I’m a footnote in the annals of history. I’ve been pushed aside and my genius buried in deceit. I am forgotten.”
“Not to the OD Oracle Society.”
“The what?”
“Your underground fan appreciation club. There are chapters worldwide.”
“I have a fan club? That’s so sweet, how did I not know—no! You will not trick me with petty lies. You will witness the terror of my apocalypse trapped forever within this room!”
“I’m not lying! Look it up.”
Silence fell as my plea went unanswered.
Frankie snorted. “We’re not trapped.”
Next Move
“Huh?” I stared at Frankie.
“We’re not trapped. As he monologed, I monitored the system. He has no control of this room. He used the intercom like I said.”
“So?”
“If I may interject,” Dr Quackenboss interrupted. “Can this Le Pingouin Noir fellow eavesdrop on us? Perhaps it’s not wise to discuss plans aloud.”
Frankie frowned. “I don’t know. But this isn’t on any schematics, so he can’t know about it.” With that cryptic statement Frankie walked to the wall and slammed his palm against a painted flower. A door slid open to another grav lift.
“Come on, let’s go.”
